‘Jive Time in the Cascades’ returns

LEAVENWORTH- It’s all about the jazz and the brass, the bass, and the big band sounds

On Sept. 17 at Jive Time in the Cascades, a Cascade Medical Foundation fundraising concert at Snowy Owl Theater. The Wenatchee Big Band, a 20-piece jazz orchestra ensemble with members ranging in age from 17 to 82, returns to center stage for this year’s event, bringing a set lineup that includes swing and jazz standards and popular crowd favorites.

“The Wenatchee Big Band is looking forward to the opportunity to play and support a very worthy cause," said Tim Zanol, the band’s manager, and bass trombonist. Proceeds from the concert, sponsored by Kahler Mountain Club, will be used in the Foundation’s mission to enhance, and financially support Cascade Medical.

“Audiences get a chance to hear a live band playing all sorts of big band jazz, from the big band heyday to the most modern big band jazz being performed,” Zanol said.

Raising money while listening to great music is a pairing that’s hard to beat, said event organizer and Foundation Board Chairperson Shannon Keller.

“People can come as they are and just sit and listen, or don their dancing shoes,” Keller said. “It amazes me how those sounds of yesteryear — and the sounds reminiscent of the Glenn Miller era — draw people of all ages.” This is the concert’s second year. Last year’s debut event attracted a fun crowd, Keller said. The hope is to continue its success this year.

Returning this year is a “Buy-It-Now” board, featuring deals on gifts cards and gift packages donated by local businesses. The offering gives concert goers a chance to shop and support the work of the Foundation. Additional sponsorship opportunities also are available. Call the Foundation office at 509-548-2523 or email foundation@cascademedical.org for details.

Concert tickets are $40, available at the Icicle Creek Center for the Arts box office (icicle.org) or at the door. The Snowy Owl Theater is at 7409 Icicle Road, Leavenworth. The doors for the concert open at 6 p.m., with music starting at 6:30 p.m.

A pre-concert social from 4:30 to 6 p.m., featuring a gourmet charcuterie table by Modern Mountain Creations, is available for $25. The “grazing table” will be packed with meats, cheeses, nuts, fresh fruits and so much more. Tickets, at icicle.org, must be purchased in advance.

The concert is one more way the Foundation brings the community together while supporting its fundraising mission. In June, the Foundation’s Marson and Marson Cascade Golf Classic raised more than $46,000 for a cardiac rehabilitation center at Cascade Medical.

“Events like these help the Foundation fund critical needs for us and, in turn, we’re able to continue to provide high quality care to our community,” said Cascade Medical CEO Diane Blake. “We’re so fortunate and grateful for our community’s support — it really takes us all, working together, for a healthier community.”

“We are basically the same type of band, but with many personnel changes,” said Zanol, who has been involved from the get-go. “I’m a semi-retired pro,” he said, who joined because he wanted to keep playing.

He is still having fun, he said. He also enjoys the band’s sense of family, some of which comes from the varied demographic of its members.

One of the founders’ tenets was to allow high school students to play in a more adult setting, Zanol said. That still holds today. Wenatchee Valley College students can earn credit for participating and the band is also offered as a continuing education course.

Listeners seem to enjoy the band’s sound as well.

“Audiences get a chance to hear a live band playing all sorts of big band jazz, from the big band heyday to the most modern big band jazz being performed,” Zanol said. “Once in a while we have a concert setting, but not often. Usually dancing is encouraged.”